Why is the Royal College of Physicians concluding the ecigs help smokers quit when a large body of evidence shows that, as consumer products, they don’t?

On April 18, 2024 the UK Royal College of Physicians published E-cigarettes and Harm Reduction: An Evidence Review, the latest in a series of reports it has published since 2007 endorsing e-cigarettes for harm reduction.  In this report, the RCP recommends that “e-cigarettes should be promoted as an effective means of helping people who smokeContinue reading “Why is the Royal College of Physicians concluding the ecigs help smokers quit when a large body of evidence shows that, as consumer products, they don’t?”

Why is the Royal College of Physicians concluding e-cigs reduce harm while ignoring the substantial associations between e-cigs and actual disease?

On April 18, 2024 the UK Royal College of Physicians published E-cigarettes and Harm Reduction: An Evidence Review, the latest in a series of reports it has published since 2007 endorsing e-cigarettes for harm reduction.  The report covers a wide range of topics, including assessing the health risks of e-cigarettes, the central question on whetherContinue reading “Why is the Royal College of Physicians concluding e-cigs reduce harm while ignoring the substantial associations between e-cigs and actual disease?”

Why is the FDA still pushing e-cigs as lower risk based on ancient evidence?

Today (April 16, 2024) the FDA released a new web page on The Relative Risks of Tobacco Products that irresponsibly promotes e-cigarettes as a lower risk alternative to cigarettes. This recommendation is based on the 2018 National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on e-cigarettes that concluded that e-cigarettes reduce exposure to some toxicContinue reading “Why is the FDA still pushing e-cigs as lower risk based on ancient evidence?”

More people are stopping smoking since advent of fourth gen e-cigs. Less disease? Probably not.

Karin Kasza and colleagues new well-done study, “Divergence in Cigarette Discontinuation Rates by Use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS): Longitudinal Findings From the United States PATH Study Waves 1-6,” uses the large national PATH study to see if there were differences in real-world trends of adults stopping smoking before and after fourth generation e-cigarettesContinue reading “More people are stopping smoking since advent of fourth gen e-cigs. Less disease? Probably not.”

Ecigs harm periodontal (gum) health

Our recently-published meta-analysis of the association between e-cigarette use and disease (now available open access) found that the risks of e-cigarettes were indistinguishable for cardiovascular disease, stroke and metabolic dysfunction, but did find lower risks for respiratory and oral diseases. Specifically, the risk for oral disease in e-cigarette users was about 13% below that ofContinue reading “Ecigs harm periodontal (gum) health”

NOW OPEN ACCESS: E-cigs have similar risks to cigs for some diseases and nearly as high for others. Dual use riskier than smoking alone

NEJM Evidence has graciously made our recent paper, “Population-Based Disease Odds for E-Cigarettes and Dual Use versus Cigarettes,” open access so that anyone can read and download it for free. As described in more detail in my blog post on the paper, it uses data from 107 population epidemiology studies of the association between e-cigaretteContinue reading “NOW OPEN ACCESS: E-cigs have similar risks to cigs for some diseases and nearly as high for others. Dual use riskier than smoking alone”

British smokers understand risks of e-cig use better than a lot of British health officials and scientists

England remains the country in which the government and (most of the) health establishment continue to aggressively promote e-cigarettes as a better alternative to cigarettes. As a result, Sarah Jackson and her colleagues were concerned about the results of their latest survey of smokers’ attitudes towards e-cigarettes, reported in their paper Trends in Harm PerceptionsContinue reading “British smokers understand risks of e-cig use better than a lot of British health officials and scientists”

More information on how ecigs increase cardiovascular disease risk

The evidence that e-cigarette use is associated with increased cardiovascular disease keeps accumulaing, together with studies on the specific pathophysiological mechanisms through which e-cigarette use increases disease risk. The recent review by Huiqi Zong, Zhekai Hu and colleagues, Electronic cigarettes and cardiovascular disease: epidemiological and biological links, is the most recent summary of this evidence.Continue reading “More information on how ecigs increase cardiovascular disease risk”

Cochrane Collaborative concludes that e-cigs as medicines help a few people shop smoking (again); still ignoring differences between medicines and consumer products as well as dual use

On January 8, 2024, the Cochrane Collaborative published yet another meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials concluding that e-cigarettes help a few people stop smoking. While industry and other pro-e-cigarette interests will make a big deal of this, the fact is that there is nothing new here. Here is their primary conclusion: There is high certaintyContinue reading “Cochrane Collaborative concludes that e-cigs as medicines help a few people shop smoking (again); still ignoring differences between medicines and consumer products as well as dual use”

Youth living in vapefree homes much less likely to use e-cigs

While the reason for enacting smokefree laws and implementing voluntary smokefree policies has been to protect people from secondhand smoke, a well-established side effect is that they help adult smokers quit and help prevent youth smoking (laws, home policies). Now Jeremy Staff and his colleagues have shown that kids living in vapefree households are muchContinue reading “Youth living in vapefree homes much less likely to use e-cigs”